Sidewalk Riding Prevention Technology Requirement Study and Demonstration Pilot 

All e-scooter operators that have a Shared Micro-Mobility Permit with the City of San José must participate in an evaluation process to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology they will rely upon to prevent the use of shared e-scooters on public sidewalks.

The sidewalk prevention technology requirement will be effective on the following street segments, hereafter the Designated Area:

• First, Second, Third, and Fourth Streets between San Carlos Street to the south and St. John Street to the north
• San Fernando Street between Cahill Street to the west and 10th Street to the east

Download the map of the Designated Area where Operators shall demonstrate the technology applications proposed are effectively preventing sidewalk riding.

As soon as any Operator begins “Full Deployment” (see timeline below), Operators whose Pilot Plans or Technology Demonstrations have not been approved may not deploy vehicles or allow trip starts or ends in the Designated Area. Similarly, Operators may not deploy devices not equipped with approved sidewalk detection technology in the Designated Area as soon as any Operator begins Full Deployment.

For regulatory background, more information is included at the bottom of this page.

Goals

Evaluate the effectiveness of the technological solutions and supplemental measures proposed, developed, and deployed by operators to:

1. Prevent sidewalk riding in the Designated Area.
2. Reduce device speeds to approximately five mph when they are operated on sidewalks in the Designated Area.
3. Assess scalability of the technology proposed to other areas of the city, and its effectiveness on larger-scale operations (more than 1,000 shared e-scooters).

Evaluation Criteria

The City of San José will evaluate the effectiveness of operators’ proposed solutions to prevent sidewalk riding based on the following criteria:

1. Ability to prevent sidewalk riding in the Designated Area within a minimum margin of error to effectively avoid potential conflicts with pedestrians.
2. Demonstrated commitment to prevent sidewalk riding through the deployment of pilots to test and improve the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.

The City will monitor and evaluate each operator’s capacity to fulfill this requirement through data feeds, pilot reports from operators, user experience information gathered by city staff, and other applicable data streams and information available to the City.

Evaluation Timeline

Pilot Plan submissions and Technology Demonstrations may be scheduled on a rolling basis and are not required to strictly follow the proposed schedule below.

However, as soon as any Operator begins Full Deployment (see timeline below), Operators whose Pilot Plans or Technology Demonstrations have not been approved may not deploy vehicles or allow trip starts or ends in the Designated Area. Similarly, Operators may not deploy devices not equipped with approved sidewalk detection technology in the Designated Area as soon as any Operator begins Full Deployment.

Regulatory Framework